During last year’s market volatility, did you get nervous calls from clients wondering what they should do? If you’re like most advisors, you know that market declines are a normal part of investing. But for clients, especially those close to retirement, market downturns can be uncomfortable or even scary. We do know that market corrections are a predictable part of life. In fact, a 10% correction has happened on average …

If you have been reading my ongoing series about the PESO Model on GuideVine over the past year, you already know the “O” in the PESO marketing model stands for “owned.” But given how much of our existence today is mobile/digital and web-enabled, it could also stand for “online.” While other elements that fall into the “owned category” (primarily, your printed and digital brand identity/collateral items and the original content …

We’ve all been hearing about the competitive threat from robo-advisors for years. Many experts warned that human advisors would soon be put out of business by robo-advisors with lower fees and automated investing. While a typical financial advisor may charge 1 percent or more to manage an account, a robo-advisor may charge between 0.25 and 0.5 percent. The first robo-advisors came to the market in 2008, but didn’t enjoy widespread attention …

How much do you plan to spend on your firm’s marketing in 2017? What percentage of total revenue does that number represent? If you’re like many advisors, you don’t have a planned marketing budget and aren’t sure if you’re spending too much or too little. By setting a deliberate budget toward your marketing plan, you can better track expenses, evaluate results, and grow your firm. How Much Do Financial Advisors …

The PESO Model (paid, earned, shared and owned) is a great way to “bucket” out any marketing plan. In my last installment, we discussed “earned” media, such as being quoted in an article, having a piece you wrote published in a newspaper, appearing on a television or radio show, or being featured in the press in some other way. We’ve also already discussed the “paid” category, also known as advertising. Paid …

Raghav Sharma on Creating an Outstanding Online Presence. This originally appeared on the Becoming Referable podcast by Stephen Wershing and Julie Littlechild, and can be found here. Steve Wershing: Welcome to Becoming Referable, the podcast that shows you how to become the kind of advisor your clients want to tell other people about. I’m Steve Wershing. On this episode, we will be talking with Raghav Sharma, who is President of GuideVine, …

Most financial advisors understand the importance of strong referral partners. In fact, in a 2014 study, the Financial Planning Association identified center of influence referrals as the top tactic successful advisors use to grow their business. But how can advisors know whether they are making the most of their referral partners? How many referral partners should financial advisors seek? And how often should they expect referrals from their top center …

You may have heard that FINRA recently fined a dozen financial advisory firms over $14 million for cybersecurity failures. Advisors from Wells Fargo, LPL Financial, and RBC were ordered to pay penalties for improper protection of customers’ sensitive data. In fact, in early 2016, FINRA announced that it plans to increase its focus on cybersecurity to protect investors in the future.

You may have heard that FINRA recently fined a dozen financial advisory firms over $14 million for cybersecurity failures. Advisors from Wells Fargo, LPL Financial, and RBC were ordered to pay penalties for improper protection of customers’ sensitive data. In fact, in early 2016, FINRA announced that it plans to increase its focus on cybersecurity to protect investors in the future. And FINRA fines aren’t the only penalty for insufficient …

Facebook is the third most visited website in the world, with U.S. Facebook users spending 40 minutes per day on the platform — almost as much time as they spending eating and drinking. LinkedIn and Twitter are not far behind, with more than half of U.S. professionals actively using LinkedIn. With so much time spent on the “big three” social media platforms, it makes sense for advisors to advertise to prospects …

The PESO Model (paid, earned, shared and owned) is a great way to “bucket” out any marketing plan. If you missed the previous articles in the series, The Digital Reality for Financial Advisors and Embracing The PESO Model for Marketing Success (Part 2), read those pieces now before continuing on. This installment will focus on “earned” strategies, also known as public relations, media relations and/or credibility marketing. SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT There’s …